While in the hospital I personally would not let the nurses take my daughter to the nursery. Why? Because I had watched too many shows about people stealing or swapping out babies. Yeah, I know they put the bands on the baby but from what I watched nurses swapped babies or took them too so in my mind if a nurse wanted to take or swap my baby she’d just make a new band and cut off the other one. Yeah I know this is what happens when you watch too many documentaries and Lifetime while pregnant lol. But for real though I was terrified, so I kept Paisley in the room with me. They kept asking if I’d like her to go to the nursery while I slept, and I kept telling them no. They seemed a little shocked at that. In the hospital Paisley either slept in the clear baby holder or in my arms. Now when I got ready to leave, the doctors and nurses made it a point to review a plethora of information about important recommendations for parents going home with a new baby. They go over feeding sch...

Doesn’t she look so happy? Not a worry in the world, right?! She is so brave, and I truly admire that about her. Although the world is so big and new to her she wants nothing more than to explore and experiment. I will admit it drives me crazy some days because she doesn’t realize when she’s about to hurt herself, but mommy does and it’s hard for me to let her learn cause and effect on her own. Small things like not paying attention to where she’s walking or jumping off her toys or the couch. It doesn’t bother her when she falls or runs into something and if it does it’s for a minute then she’s right back to it.  Before becoming a parent, I seldom worried about making it home, making it through the day, or just being alive to see what all was coming. I had dreams and aspirations, but I didn’t worry. I planned and tried to be as effective as I could at getting the things I wanted done. Although I’ve experienced death I never thought about my death and how it would affect others. ...

When that pregnancy test line returns with a plus sign or the words pregnant on the screen unless you are trying to conceive it’s a bit of a shock. I had no idea that I was pregnant or even having pregnancy symptoms. One day when I came home from work, I told my partner that I was not feeling well and after listing off each illness I was feeling his exact words were, “Trice you sure you’re not pregnant.” He told me everything I listed off sounded like a pregnancy symptom and he would know because he had three children from previous relationships. My eyes bucked open as I really thought about it and I got nervous. I laughed it off on the outside while in the inside I was running through the symptoms in my head and comparing them to everything I’d ever read or heard about pregnancy symptoms. Then I realized I might be pregnant.   My immediate thought was to look at when was my last period and go to the store to get a test. After looking at my period calendar I realized oh snap!!! I...